Work of glass artists and ceramists will enhance the fifth American Fine Craft Show Brooklyn at the Brooklyn Museum Nov. 18-19. They will join furniture makers, fine artists and sculptors as well as jewelers and fashion designers—90 exhibitors in all--in the majestic Beaux-Arts Court in the landmark museum. In addition to foreign cultures and nature, their inspirations come from the character of the materials they know so intimately and the finishing processes that they manipulate and enhance to achieve the personality of their pieces.

GLASS

Fused glass artist Marcie Tauber said she “takes much of her inspiration from the glass itself; the shapes that are formed when the glass is heated and the colors that result when glass fragments overlap on her work table.” The Wilmington, Del.-based artist, whose first career was in information technology, creates platters and plates with a focus on deep bowls she calls Calderas. “They are reminiscent of caldera, the cauldron-like depressions formed by the inward collapse of a volcano.”

Glass artist Josh Simpson may be inspired by “an aurora borealis, or watching a thunderstorm develop, or looking at the sky on a perfect summer night.” The Shelburne, Mass.-based glassmaker said “Most of my work reflects a compromise between the molten material and me; each finished piece is a solidified moment when we both agree.” Simpson’s work is in major museum collections such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Corning Museum of Glass.

Skitch Manion, Working Man Hand Made, a Philadelphia, Pa. glass and design company wrote that he was instantly drawn to the significant history and technical challenge of the craft of glassblowing. It requires a specific lifestyle, he maintains, centered on dedication. He studied under some of the industry's most highly regarded makers and has worked with maestros, Pino Signoretto and Lino Tagliapietra. Manion also aspires to be a resource as a skilled maker and upholds the tradition of refined skill in glassblowing.

CERAMICS

Humor informs the work of Charlottesville, Va.-based ceramist Christina Osheim of Möbius Keramikk. She hand builds, throws and casts her work in porcelain. “I use form, color and texture to achieve a multi sensory experience, focusing on how each object fits and feels in a hand and on lips.” In addition to working in prestigious clay studios, Osheim has numerous degrees and credentials: a BA from St. Olaf College studying ceramics followed by a year at the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

Ming Yuen-Schat, Mings Monsters, hand-shapes, then alters each ceramic, marking every monster with his finger. The spirit of each appears in the wood kiln where most of his work is fired. There flames, smoke and ash paint the pots with color and texture. In addition to attending workshops with internationally recognized artists, the Taiwan-born Fort Greene, Brooklyn-based ceramist earned a BFA in ceramics and architecture design from the Massachusetts College of Art and a Master of Architecture from MIT. He embraces the imperfect, asymmetrical, and deliberately crude and is diametrically opposed to the influence of commercialized modernism which values slick, high-tech, machine-made objects. For more information about the American Fine Craft Show at the Brooklyn Museum, visit www.brooklyncraftshow.com.

Richard and Joanna Rothbard, founders and directors of American Art Marketing, have launched and produced art fairs and craft shows for over 30 years. They established the American Fine Craft Show NYC, Contemporary Art Fair NYC and the Rockefeller Arts Festival in Manhattan. Currently they produce the annual American Fine Craft Show Washington DC in October; American Fine Craft Show Brooklyn Museum in November, Sarasota Craft Show in Florida in December, the Berkshires Arts Festival in Massachusetts in July and American Fine Craft Show Philadelphia in April.

The Rothbards also own An American Craftsman Galleries, http://www.anamericancraftsman.com/ with Manhattan locations—294 Columbus Avenue and 830 7th Avenue—as well as on Main Street in Stockbridge, Mass. Richard Rothbard, a craftsman who designs puzzle boxes of wood, owns Boxology (www.boxology.com), Slate Hill, NY.